Leatherbacks return on heels of jellies

MARINE LIFE

Updated 11:09 am, Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Photo: Blue Ocean Whale Watch/SeaTurtl

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The largest sea turtle in the world, the extremely rare Pacific leatherback, has been spotted this week offshore of Monterey, Moss Landing, and Half Moon Bay along with a massive bloom of jellyfish, which are their main prey. The sightings continue to be reported and it appears the leatherbacks are moving north towards San Francisco Bay. Because individuals can be identified by unique coloration patterns on the top of their head, experts at the SeaTurtles.org can confirm from photos that this female was seen twice this week by by crew and passengers onboard the Blue Ocean Whale Watch's vessel that operates out of Monterey. less

The largest sea turtle in the world, the extremely rare Pacific leatherback, has been spotted this week offshore of Monterey, Moss Landing, and Half Moon Bay along with a massive bloom of jellyfish, which are ... more

The huge turtles were grazing on jellyfish, their favorite, the witnesses said.

Marine biologists expect reports of more sightings as the world's largest sea turtles migrate more than 6,000 miles into their feeding grounds along the California coast from nesting beaches far off in the South Pacific.

Chris Pincetich of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, a nonprofit advocacy group in Marin, said the leatherbacks seen last week appeared to be moving north as they followed a huge bloom of jellyfish. They are feasting on brown sea nettle jellies, the most nutritious species offshore from California, Pincetich said.

At least two leatherbacks were reported by passengers and crew aboard the whale watching Blue Oceans High Spirits out of Moss Landing. A former deckhand on the whale watching boat Huli Cat, out of Pillar Pont Harbor in San Mateo County, also spotted one from shore, said Tom Mattusch, the boat's skipper.

Leatherbacks were listed as endangered in 1970 under the Endangered Species Act. Their depleted population is still threatened by commercial fishing with long lines and drift nets, egg poaching in their Far East nesting grounds, destruction of nesting habitat, and changing ocean conditions.

Researchers estimate that the leatherback population has declined by 95 percent worldwide since the 1980s.

The annual leatherback migration along the Pacific Coast normally runs from June until October or November.

In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designated nearly 42,000 square miles of ocean along the Pacific Coast as a critical habitat for the leatherbacks, but the Turtle Island group and other environmental organizations have protested that the area does not include all crucial migration routes or adequate protection against commercial fishing.

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